Apple's latest entry to the tablet market, the iPad air, promises to be a lighter, faster and thinner device. But the iPad isn't your only option.

We looked at some of the latest offerings that are portable enough to take anywhere and versatile enough for work and play -- and all ready to be snatched up by holiday shoppers.

Gerardo Jimenez already owns a tablet. But the 30-year-old technophile was in Best Buy in North Fresno, looking to upgrade . "I was looking at the Samsung, the 8-inch tablet, the new one. I like it. It's a little bigger than the one I have but still fits in my hand. It's very slim and lightweight."

Both the $400-dollar 8-inch and $549-dollar 10-inch version are popular for note-taking and multi-tasking. Samsung's Galaxy Note line is one of the reasons Apple's global tablet marketshare has gone from 69% in 2012 to just 28% this year. Apple is hoping to turn things around with its latest device introduced today, the faster, thinner $500 iPad air.

Mike Leclair with Best Buy said customers win. "Apple and Samsung are in the race with each other who can put out the powerful better version of essentially same device. As the market's matured, there's now something for every price point."

At $229-dollars, one option is the 7-inch Amazon Kindle Fire HDX, considered the best tablet for entertainment, including reading and watching movies. Also at $229, the Google Nexus 7 is considered the best Android tablet, delivering a pure Android Jelly Bean operating system for users.

For the more business minded, the $800 Microsoft Surface 2 Pro is a work horse -- with an optional keyboard, large 10.6-inch display and the full Windows operating system.

The tablet market is still growing rapidly. In fact experts predict it could jump as much as 43% from last year. Much of that jump in sales will come this holiday season, with tablets still top on many people's wish lists. Experts predict it's only a matter of a year or two, before tablet sales surpass both.